Drip—Ten minutes before the first class, I entered the classroom at a time when most students should have already arrived.
"...What?"
Leo, sitting in the classroom, looked at my face and asked as if he found it absurd. Then, as if realizing he had decided not to pretend to know me belatedly, he now silently turned his head toward me and began cursing with his expression.
I ignored his face asking what on earth had happened and looked around the other side. I made eye contact with those students from yesterday. I sneered and nodded toward them.
"I left you behind, but you managed to get up and come on your own."
"..."
"Hey."
The students stubbornly stared straight ahead, only trembling and looking my way after I approached and tapped one of them on the shoulder.
"Did you make me come myself?"
"A-ah, no... why would I..."
The guy looking at me had eyes shaking like crazy. He probably had memories of calling me out to bully me, but he wouldn't have memories of hitting me so visibly. Something clearly happened, yet all that remained in his head was a vague fear.
I smiled and grabbed his shoulder.
"Grab your bag and come over here."
"Huh?"
"Sit next to me. All four of you."
The guy slowly got up from his seat with a completely frozen face. Then, with an expression of not knowing why he should follow my words, he asked.
"Why next to you..."
I returned to my seat and silently tapped the desk. They exchanged glances and sat down next to me with confused faces.
I asked lightly.
"What's this class?"
"...Basic Biology... probably."
"Good, nice. Open your notebooks."
They looked at each other with bewildered faces, only checking each other's reactions, then took out their notebooks. Just then, the professor opened the door and entered.
"Hello, everyone."
While the professor was rummaging through the attendance list, I spoke to the students sitting next to me.
"What are your grades?"
"36th place... These guys next to me are probably in the 40s... Why?"
I let out a hollow laugh at that.
"40th out of 50? Can't even expect you to grasp the main points."
"B-but weren't you... 48th place?"
Lucas was like that. He was absent on exam day too. He held the last place all along, only barely avoiding the bottom in the final exam.
I didn't bother answering that and pointed to the notebook.
"From now on, write down every single word the professor says without missing a syllable. Don't bother trying to find useless main points, record everything from start to finish."
"What?"
"Write. Everything."
Everything? The student frowned with a troubled expression.
"B-but since earlier, why should we listen to you..."
"Don't want to?"
When I stared at him with a smile, the student averted his eyes slightly and dragged out his words.
"No, writing everything is a bit..."
"Then don't do it if you don't want to. It's your freedom. Studying isn't something you do because someone tells you to, right?"
Don't do it? That easily? Is it really okay not to do it? Embarrassment spread across the student's face again.
Then the professor looked around at the students, saw my face, and tilted his head.
"Student Lucas, what happened to your face?"
"Ah, I was in the early morning..."
I stood up from my seat and opened my mouth.
Bang—The sound of the desk vibrating spread through the quiet classroom.
The student sitting next to me grabbed my hand tightly with a pale face. The student urgently whispered in a small voice.
"I-I'll do it...! I'll do it! Everything!"
"...Hmm."
"Early morning?"
The professor looked back and forth at the student next to me and asked again. From far away, Leo let out a deep sigh. He seemed to have finally caught on to what was happening.
The looks in the eyes of the other students filling the classroom were all the same.
I looked down at the guy holding my hand and raised the corner of my mouth.
"...It's nothing. I had a bit of a fight with some friends."
"If it's a violence incident, we should convene a disciplinary committee."
"No. It's not that serious. It was resolved amicably."
The professor, seemingly not wanting to make a big deal out of something involving me, nodded after being lost in thought for a moment.
"Hmm... If you need help, please tell the professors anytime. Even later is fine."
"Yes, I definitely will. Thank you."
I smiled and sat down.
Then I took out a thin book with a cover from my bag. It was a book I borrowed from the library to study divine power special magic.
I opened the book, placed it under the textbook, and gestured to the students sitting next to me.
"What are you doing? Not writing."
"..."
The students blankly looked down at my book, then hurriedly moved their hands as the professor began speaking.
* * *
"Well then, see you next week. Review well."
The professor gathered his teaching materials and went out.
The guys next to me jumped up from their seats and gasped for breath.
"Huff... it's, it's over."
"Lucas! We wrote it all!"
The students' tearful shouts reached me.
At that shout, I took my eyes off the book and quickly scanned the notebook.
Of course there were blank parts, but since several people were taking notes, they were filling in those blank parts for each other.
I handed the notebook back to the students.
"Well done."
"...You're not taking it?"
"Come on... There are people who only study during the first class. What, does school end after just the first period?"
At those words, the students' faces darkened. I laughed and tapped their shoulders.
"Hang in there until six o'clock."
And so, after the regular class time ended, I collected all the notebooks. The students handed over the notebooks while rubbing their arms with dying faces.
"Look at that handwriting flying off. Can't you do it properly?"
One student, hearing my scolding, hesitated and opened his mouth.
"...But, what about reporting..."
"I won't."
As I shook my head, light returned to the students' faces. I quietly watched that sight and continued.
"If you keep acting like this from now on, that is. As far as I know, violence incidents can be reported anytime before graduation. Right?"
"Huh? Ah, no... then..."
I smiled while looking at the students who couldn't continue their words.
I had already gone to the hospital and gotten a medical opinion.
Unlike before, I slowly read through the notebook and nodded.
Sitting still and listening to high school-level classes I already knew was incredibly difficult.
Something that could be finished in 30 minutes with just lecture notes, yet I had to listen for a full hour.
And since the curriculum wasn't exactly the same as reality, I couldn't completely ignore the classes, which was a bit of a concern...
'This is good.'
I closed the notebook filled line by line with lecture content and grinned.
"Well then, I'll borrow these."
* * *
Not long after Lucas left his seat, one student sighed and swept his face with both hands.
"That bastard's a bully..."
"W-where is there a bully who extorts notes..."
"Anyway, it's extortion! The notebook is my property, isn't it?!"
As the student exploded in anger, another student shook his head.
"Calm down. He clearly said he was borrowing them. He'll probably return them."
"If he doesn't return them, we should report him right away."
"He'll return them. If he wants us to take notes tomorrow too, he has to return them."
"..."
Everyone fell silent.
It was a statement that made their future look bleak.
* * *
I stopped by my room, stacked the borrowed notebooks on the desk, and moved to the training ground.
"What on earth happened yesterday?"
When I raised my head, I made eye contact with Leo sitting astride a chair in the training ground.
Yeah, I knew he'd ask. It would be more surprising if he didn't.
I thought for a moment and answered briefly.
"I got hit a bit."
Of course, he wasn't asking about that but about how the incident unfolded...
There were many things that didn't need to be told, like them bringing up Leo's story or me making them eat dirt.
Rather than leaving room for a slip of the tongue, it's better not to explain at all.
'If I say something unnecessary, I won't even make it halfway.'
Especially the dirt-eating part. I thought of Leo's proper conduct and kept my mouth shut.
Leo looked at me with another expression of disbelief and shook his head.
"Alright, fine... That's not important. Did you get checked?"
"I did. It's just bruises."
"That's a relief."
Leo nodded and casually brought up a sudden question.
"So, did you win?"
"What?"
An inappropriate question made me let out a hollow laugh.
Even in the novel, I'd read scenes where Leo stopped the protagonist from fighting, but I didn't remember reading about him asking about the outcome of a fight.
'He's already assuming I used magic.'
If it wasn't magic, he wasn't the type to bring up talk of winning or losing in a fight. I answered lightly.
"There's no way those guys would be listening to the loser's words."
At that answer, Leo burst out laughing.
"Ah, now I feel a bit relieved. Yeah, who taught you. You couldn't lose to guys like that."
"It's interesting that you naturally think I used magic."
"Those guys aren't the type to keep to the line. To get out of there, there's no way other than using magic."
I nodded.
From the attempt to feed me to a living animal, they had crossed the line by a long shot. If I hadn't used magic, I really would have been put in its mouth.
"How are the kids reacting?"
"They think you were unilaterally beaten. And they're guessing that those guys accidentally hit your face and got caught in a weak point."
An extremely common-sense reaction.
It's not easy to think that someone who can't use magic beat three or four mages.
Ultimately, this means talk about my magic hasn't spread.
I only gained divine power as compensation, and taught myself mind-control magic using divine power...
'For something self-taught, the effect is certain.'
Special magic using divine power has value for continued investment in the future.
Of course, after focusing on something more fundamental.
Right now, I need to raise my stamina score faster.
If it interferes with using divine power, mental power is the same.
It's the fourth week of September now, and once next week passes, it'll be October. It's already been about a month since the new semester started.
So... it's time to gradually speed up supplementing the status window.
Three hours after starting training, Leo stuck his wand into his waistband and checked his watch.
"It's ten. Let's start heading in."
I wiped my sweat and nodded.
Unlike me, Leo showed no sign of fatigue and smiled as he greeted me.
"Still, we did it with a bit higher intensity today, good work."
"Yeah, you too."
This is the reason I need to raise my stamina stat quickly. Even when trying to do something for development, stamina becomes an obstacle.
'Let's see how much I gain per day of training.'
I called up the status window.
Lucas Rene Ascanien
Title: Hunter of ???
Stamina: -3.3 (+0.1) [-0.3]
Mental Power: -7.6 (+0.1)
Magic Power: ?
Technique: +1.065 (+0.05) [+4.065]
Impression: -10
Luck: -6.385 (+0.1)
Traits: Dawn 777, Divine Power
0.1 per day, 1 point in ten days.
For reference, last week it was 1 point per week.
The larger the value, the smaller the increase.
Still, generously speaking, I can escape the negatives in two months, so it's not a problem yet.
The problem is after that.
I turned my gaze to the technique item.
The only positive technique score is rising by a smaller margin each time compared to other items. It seems that once it crosses into positive territory, the speed slows down incomparably to now.
'Since only tasks that take longer and longer remain, it's right to pass through the negative zone as quickly as possible.'
Time is limited, but there's much to do.
Should I reduce sleep too?
As I was having such thoughts while packing my bag, Leo let out an exclamation and called me.
"Ah, Lucas."
"What."
"The medicinal ingredients you talked about arrived. Today is the fourth day you mentioned before."
Leo lifted the box he had placed under his own bag to show me.
Hmm, if I have to make that throughout the exam period too, I really need to reduce sleep.
Around the time I was having such thoughts, a familiar notification sound was heard.
Ding—!
〈 Chapter 3. Constant Dripping Wears Away a Stone (1) 〉
Proposal 2: Achieve 'Stamina' score 0 (0/1) (167 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds)
* Route 1 — 〈 Chapter 3 Special Reward 〉
* Route 2 — 〈 Chapter 4. One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer 〉
"..."
"Lucas?"
When it's increasing by 1 point in ten days... they want me to raise 3.3 points in one week.
Yeah, it's about time for proposals like this to appear.
I wondered why it was so quiet with a title like that.
I looked at the unrealistic time limit and snorted.
—-----------
T/N:
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